Let’s do a photo inventory here:
Single-wide trailer with awning
Twin propane tanks in front that look like giant scuba tanks.
Taurus SHO (Red, generation II)
Weber-style grill with chrome top in the front yard
Card table with tomatoes for sale
Backyard above-ground pool
Large sunflowers in front
Check, check, and check. Nothing really surprising.
But wait. What’s that? It’s a race track in the back yard! How wonderful is that? It even has its own start/stop stand. Gee, and there’s even a watering/grading unit to keep the dust down, and a giant “Hoosier Tires” sign along the fence. All on one of god’s little acres.
Each day, I drive past that little trailer with the race track in the back yard. It’s about two or three miles away from my workplace—just a hop, skip and a jump from town, as they say. Driving by, all I get is a long look each day, heading west in the morning and east in the evening. I will probably always speculate about the lives of the people who live there, but having seen it for six months now, what strikes me most about it is not just the novelty of a short dirt track in the back yard; it is how well kept the property is.
Neat plantings surround what I imagine is a 60’s vintage unit, and the mature trees around it suggest it has been at this location for about that length of time. It was probably a nice trailer in its day; certainly it was well made to last this long. The lawn is always well kept, too, as are the cars and truck in the back. No abandoned cars on this lot, nosirreee!
For the longest time, I never saw any of the people who lived there. Until I did, it was easy to objectify this little place—make fun of it a little, and I did just that when I mentioned it to my co-workers. “Have you ever seen that place?” I asked once, describing it in a condescending tone.
Lately, I don’t see it that way. I saw the guy who lives there a few weeks ago. Although I was flying by at 60 mph, he looked like a regular guy. His husky-mix dog was following him around, wagging his tail. He tossed a ball ahead, leading out to the track. The guy just looked like he was enjoying his life.
Happy is the man.
Single-wide trailer with awning
Twin propane tanks in front that look like giant scuba tanks.
Taurus SHO (Red, generation II)
Weber-style grill with chrome top in the front yard
Card table with tomatoes for sale
Backyard above-ground pool
Large sunflowers in front
Check, check, and check. Nothing really surprising.
But wait. What’s that? It’s a race track in the back yard! How wonderful is that? It even has its own start/stop stand. Gee, and there’s even a watering/grading unit to keep the dust down, and a giant “Hoosier Tires” sign along the fence. All on one of god’s little acres.
Each day, I drive past that little trailer with the race track in the back yard. It’s about two or three miles away from my workplace—just a hop, skip and a jump from town, as they say. Driving by, all I get is a long look each day, heading west in the morning and east in the evening. I will probably always speculate about the lives of the people who live there, but having seen it for six months now, what strikes me most about it is not just the novelty of a short dirt track in the back yard; it is how well kept the property is.
Neat plantings surround what I imagine is a 60’s vintage unit, and the mature trees around it suggest it has been at this location for about that length of time. It was probably a nice trailer in its day; certainly it was well made to last this long. The lawn is always well kept, too, as are the cars and truck in the back. No abandoned cars on this lot, nosirreee!
For the longest time, I never saw any of the people who lived there. Until I did, it was easy to objectify this little place—make fun of it a little, and I did just that when I mentioned it to my co-workers. “Have you ever seen that place?” I asked once, describing it in a condescending tone.
Lately, I don’t see it that way. I saw the guy who lives there a few weeks ago. Although I was flying by at 60 mph, he looked like a regular guy. His husky-mix dog was following him around, wagging his tail. He tossed a ball ahead, leading out to the track. The guy just looked like he was enjoying his life.
Happy is the man.
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